As is known to those familiar with the telecommunications art, cable rack is formed in sections of various lengths and assembled into cable rack assemblies for use to support large quantities of cable such as found in telephone switching offices and large computer installations. As is also well known, all equipment in facilities such as telephone switching offices and large computer installations must be grounded to prevent damage to sensitive electrical equipment which could occur if static and other electrical charges are not continually allowed to bleed off to ground.
Although cable rack sections and the clamping junctions used to connect the cable rack sections into large cable rack assemblies are metal, the cable rack sections are typically painted on the surface thereof which would normally serve to insulate the individual cable rack sections from each other and prevent proper grounding of the cable rack assembly. Therefore, the cable rack assemblies must be specially adapted to create electrical continuity between individual cable rack sections in order to allow static and other electrical charges to properly bleed off to ground to minimize risk to sensitive electrical equipment associated with cable rack assemblies.
Heretofore, it has been the practice to extend copper or other suitable wire between individual cable rack sections in order to assure electrical continuity therebetween. It has been a common practice to drill and tap individual cable rack sections so that suitable wire can be extended therebetween and secured thereto with lugs and bolts. Specifically, the process entails drilling and tapping each individual cable rack section, cutting wire (such as 3/16 inch No. 6 copper wire) to desired lengths, stripping the insulation from the ends of the wire lengths and attaching lugs thereto, and then attaching the wire links to the cable rack sections by bolting the lugs to the drilled and tapped holes therein. This grounding procedure for cable rack assemblies is very expensive since it requires labor intensive utilization of highly skilled workers and the utilization of expensive materials such as copper wire and associated lugs and bolts for connecting the wire to cable rack sections. Moreover, the drilling and tapping procedure required to attach the grounding wire to cable rack sections produces metal chips and shavings which pose a damage of contamination to sensitive electrical equipment associated with the cable rack assembly and therefore requires a careful and time consuming clean-up after installation of the grounding wire to the cable rack sections.
For these and other reasons well known to those skilled in the art, there has long been a need for an improved system for grounding cable rack assemblies.